Enbridge Technology Inc.: Advanced rotary cutting tool provides quick, cost-effective excavation
CALGARY, ALBERTA--Enbridge Technology Inc. (ETI) has formed a strategic alliance with Utilicor Technologies Inc. to manufacture and market a rotary cutting tool that provides safe, fast and cost-effective road excavation for pipeline maintenance and repair. The truck-mounted unit cuts an 18-inch core through any hard surface on roadways and sidewalks, and retains the core for reinstatement into a permanent pavement repair once pipeline repairs are complete. This process eliminates the need for traditional excavation and repaving crews, resulting in pipeline repairs that are more environmentally friendly and less disruptive of traffic. The rotary cutter was developed by field employees who were looking for a more efficient way to access buried equipment and facilities. Utility companies can typically recover their investment in the tool within six to eight weeks of implementing the process into their maintenance and repair programs. The process was developed and proven during the past eight years by Enbridge Gas Distribution, Canada's largest natural gas distribution company. EGD performed more than 3,000 excavations in the Toronto, Ontario area without a single failure in severe climates. Gord Reynolds, vice president, Operations, Utilicor, says the rotary cutter and rehabilitation process is the most cost-effective breakthrough in excavation since the introduction of vacuum excavation in the early 1990s. "The unit can core through reinforced concrete and allows us to open up the hole in less than 15 minutes," says Reynolds, "and once the repairs are complete, we can put the core back in and permanently reinstate the road or sidewalk within 45 minutes. Using this process, a typical two-person crew can do more than twice as many keyhole repairs in one day compared to traditional excavation methods, and the savings in time, scheduling and especially costs are tremendous." The increased productivity and reduced reinstatement, paving and road cut costs can save a utility company thousands of dollars per hole. It's a one-stop continuous repair and reinstatement process that maintains the strength and stability of the original structure. Enbridge Technology Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Enbridge Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Operating worldwide, Enbridge Technology provides training, technology transfer, operations and maintenance management and advisory services to liquid hydrocarbon pipelines and gas transmission and distribution companies using our extensive experience as operators of Canada's largest natural gas distribution system and one of North America's longest and most complex liquid hydrocarbon pipeline systems. Enbridge's common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada and on the New York Stock Exchange in the U.S. under the symbol ENB. Information about Enbridge is available on the Company's web site at www.enbridge.com. Utilicor Technologies Inc. is the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of the unique, rotary coring, pavement excavation technology (patent pending) and the permanent pavement restoration bonding compound (Utilibond(tm)) developed and field-proven over the last ten years by industry leader, Enbridge Gas Distribution. This proprietary coring and restoration process facilitates utility access to underground plant and is a key cost-saving element in the growing utility maintenance trend to "keyhole" technology, which allows crews to cost-effectively perform repair or maintenance work on underground pipe or other buried plant from the road surface without resort to more costly, disruptive and inherently more dangerous, excavation methods. Information about Utilicor is available on the Company's web stie at www.utilicor.ca. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "expect", "project", "believe", "estimate", "forecast" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which include statements relating to pending and proposed projects. Such statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions pertaining to operating performance, regulatory parameters, weather and economic conditions and, in the case of pending and proposed projects, risks relating to design and construction, regulatory processes, obtaining financing and performance of other parties, including partners, contractors and suppliers.